Falling Walls
by zeratulatb
Summary: Jade meets a new student at Hollywood Arts named Lance Simons, a young man with an attitude and personality like hers. Soon, she finds herself dealing with a mirror image of herself and she wants to break down his walls, but can she bring down her own walls?
1. Another Day in Paradise

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS. Unless otherwise noted, all chapters are from Jade's POV.**

**Chapter 1:**

**Another Day in Paradise**

I wake up naked next to Beck. We are holding hands and I'm cuddled up to his side. I look up and he is still asleep, breathing slowly. I look at the alarm clock and it's a little past six in the morning. In a while the alarm will go off, demanding that we wake up.

"Shit." I mutter. Today's Monday. Another day in paradise. I sit up, the sheets fall of and the cold air attacks my chest. I try to ignore the cold and stretch.

I grab my robe, which is lying on the bed in front of me and I put it on. I carefully climb out of bed and tie the robe close. I go to the coffee maker and start a pot of coffee for us.

I turn to my still sleeping boyfriend. It has been over three months since we got back together. Spring recess is just around the corner. We are planning on going to Death Valley. The weather there should be nice, since it's warmer. I'm tired of the fucken cold here. Usually, the cold doesn't bother me, but this weather is really cold. It's annoying me.

I look at the coffee pot and it's almost finished brewing. I stare at it, forcing it to brew faster, which it doesn't.

I hear the bed groan a little and turn to see Beck sitting up and stretching.

"Morning, babe." I say.

"Morning; what time is it?" He replies. Before I can answer, the alarm clock goes off, screeching at us. "Never mind." He groans. I go to the clock and turn the alarm off.

"I'm making coffee." I tell him. He yawns and nods, getting out of bed and putting on his robe. I serve us coffee and then we take turns showering and getting ready for school. After getting ready, we have some breakfast.

We leave together for school. We have one more year after this year and we're off to college. Beck and I aren't really sure what we'll do, but we have some time to figure it out.

We arrive with five minutes left before the bell rings. We go to our lockers and the others are in the hall talking. We join them after finishing at our lockers.

"Hey guys." Andre greets us. I notice his arm is around Vega's waist. About time they got together. Beck has told me how Andre complains about Vega not taking his hints through his songs and whatnot that he likes her. Beck caved in and told Andre to tell her that he likes her. When Beck told me, I asked him what took him so long to tell Andre what to do, and he told me he found it amusing how dumb Andre is. Which is saying a lot, 'cause Andre's intelligent, except when it comes to women.

Robbie is still trying to get Cat to be his girlfriend. I'm not even gonna bother, those two just annoy the shit outta me, it isn't funny.

My relationship with Beck has improved since we got back together. We don't fight too much and we've gotten back to having sessions of PDA's again. And of course there's the sex.

"Jade, are you ready?" Beck asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. I look at him and nod. I take his hand and we walk to our first class together with the others.

We arrive at Sikowitz's classroom and take our seats, with Beck and I sitting next to each other. I watch Vega and Andre get all cuddly and shit. Beck and I cuddle, but not as much as those two are. I mean Vega's sitting on his lap for fuck's sake. Andre has a triumphant look on his face. Vega's smiling too. You can definitely tell those two had sex recently. The only time I sit in Beck's lap it's when we're having sex in a chair or making out with him.

Sikowitz enters the classroom from the door beside the stage, coconut in hand.

"Welcome! Today is alphabet improv!" The hippie announces, earning groans from the entire classroom.

"What the hell is alphabet improv?" A deep voice asks. Everyone turns to see who said that. I see a new guy sitting in the far corner, closer to the windows and the front door. He is reclining in his seat. He has long brown hair, tied in a messy ponytail. He's wearing a black leather jacket with fingerless gloves and black boots. His ears are pierced as well. He has an impatient look on his face. Something draws me to him for some reason. He's very attractive; he'd give Beck a run for his money with his good looks.

"Oh yes. I forgot to introduce our new student-" Sikowitz starts.

"No need, I don't care." The dude interrupts, raising his hands to stop Sikowitz.

"Lance Simons." Sikowitz finishes, unperturbed by the dude's rudeness. Lance groans loudly, his arms dropping limp to his side and his head back, eyes rolling. This guy is my kind of guy. I smirk to myself. He eventually sits up and resumes his original pose.

"Fine; you all know my name, just don't call me Lancelot." Lance says in a somewhat threatening tone. Oh my fucking god, I love this guy.

"Can we call you Lance-not?" I tease him. He turns to me to give me a death glare. Doesn't work on me. I keep smirking at him.

"What do they call you, then? Dying Beauty?" He retorts. The whole classroom went 'ooooh' and my smirk fell to be replaced with my death glare. He rolled his eyes at me. Damn, they don't work on him either.

"Children, play nicely." Sikowitz instructs.

"Dude, I'm not a child." Lance says, exasperated, shrugging.

"You'll get used to it." Rex says. Lance eyes the mannequin.

"And how old are you?" He asks both Rex and Robbie.

"I've been asking that myself since I met him; he still hasn't given me an answer, five years later." I reply, looking at puppet boy and his oversized doll.

"Who asked you?" Lance asks me. I turn back at him. Beck turns to face him this time.

"Pal, you're new here and you have no idea who you're pissing off, so take my advice and back off." Beck warns him.

"What are you, her beau?" Lance asks in a condescending tone. Beck nods, seemingly unperturbed.

"He is and for the record, I'm not pissed." I reply. I feel everyone turn to look at me. Beck turns to face me, utter confusion on his face. _What? I'm not. I like this dude. I love his 'tude._ I think as I notice the rest of the class is looking at me.

"So, you're not as dangerous as your Prince Charming says you are?" Lance asks, leaning in towards us and smiling evilly. Beck looks back at him. He doesn't liked to be called Prince Charming for some reason.

"Oh no, nothing like that at all. I am dangerous; he just thinks that because I give him blowjobs, I must need protection." I reply, simply. Beck's eyes go wide as he turns to look at me in shock. The room goes 'ooooh' again. Lance's evil smile gets wider and his body quivers with silent laughter. Sikowitz clears his throat.

"That's enough crass and vulgarity from you, Jade. Tori, Andre's lap isn't a chair either; now, onto the improv."

I lean back in my chair and listen to Sikowitz explain what alphabet improv is to Lance, who's evil smile is now an uninterested look. Beck's shocked look falls into a frown and he looks forward. I put my hand on his hand, but he throws it off. I pretend not to notice and look back at Lance.

I can't help but stare at him. He's like me. He has that bad side to him and he has no qualms about getting into dangerous situations against dangerous people, like me.

I am incredibly drawn to him and I don't know what to do about it. I'm still with Beck, even if I just burned his skinny Canadian ass a few moments ago.

I go back to pretending to listen to the classmates doing improv and trying not to stare at Lance, who's up there, his arms folded across his chest in boredom.

I want him. I've never wanted a boy before in my life. Beck has never given me that feeling before, even when we were broken up for almost a year. What the hell do I do? This is all new to me.

Like I said earlier this morning, another day in paradise.

**zeratulatb presents:**

**A new VICTORiOUS Fanfiction:**

**Falling Walls**

**Chapter 1. Comment /review. This story is an idea from Vbajor10. Thank you for the idea, I see a lot of potential with this versatile story.**


	2. Interesting Behavior

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS.**

**Chapter 2:**

**Interesting Behavior**

"Jade!" Beck said, clearly annoyed. I ignore him. "Don't you ignore me." He threatens suddenly. How lame. I spin around and look him right in the eyes.

"Or what, _princess_?" I taunt.

"Nothing. Just wanted to get you to face me and-"

"Pussy." I snap, cutting him off. He raises his eyebrows and looks between my legs.

"Look who's talkin'." He counters, looking me back in the eyes. I narrow my eyes at him and fold my arms across my chest. "What the fuck was all that back in there?" he asks, pointing back to Sikowitz's room. Class has just ended and we are between periods now.

"That boring shit was alphabet improv." I reply, being a total smartass. I know what he's referring to, I just like seeing him mad. He's kinda sexy when he's dark skin is reddish. Ok, now's not the time for thinking like that. This shit's serious.

"You know what I mean." He says in a low voice. His cheeks are noticeably getting reddish.

"I was simply telling it how it is." I say simply, as if it were nothing, even though it was very much something.

"What? You've never given me blowjobs, which I couldn't care less about, plus I don't protect you." He snaps.

"I don't need you talking for me. I can do it for myself." I reply.

"I didn't say you couldn't but you don't have to go telling lies about us."

"The nub will never find out, calm the fuck down." I chastise him. He worries too much.

"You almost got into a fight with the guy." He remarks.

"So?" I ask, shrugging.

"Sooo, a guy like that could have gang relations. He looks like a motorcycle gang member. Those guys are dangerous. You would be helpless against them." He explains.

"His jacket didn't have any motorcycle gang patch on it and just because he looks like a gangster, doesn't make him one."

"Still, he looks like the kind you don't want to mess with." He says. I stare at him, raising my pierced eyebrow.

"You're afraid." I say.

"What?"

"You're afraid of him." I emphasize.

"No, I'm not; don't be ridiculous." He scoffs.

"Don't bullshit a bullshitter, Beck; are you afraid of him?" I ask him. Beck stares at me and thinks carefully.

"No. I'm not afraid of him. It's just strange."

"What is?" I ask, confused.

"Can't you tell? He's _you_, Jade. He's a male version of you." Beck explains.

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out, where've you been?" I reply, shrugging. His eyes go wide. "What?"

"You like him, don't you?" he asks.

"What? N-no. No…no, no, no, no. I d-don't…I don't like him. What makes you say that?" I ask, exasperated.

"You just gave yourself away by stammering and you're blushing so much your cheeks are as red as Cat's hair." Beck points out, clearly angry.

"No. No! Nothing like that." I tell him. He scoffs and walks away. "Beck!" I call to him, but he ignores me.

I hear this low laughter behind me. I turn and see Lance step out from behind a corner near where Sikowitz's class is.

"How I enjoyed listening to that. You two make quite the couple. How could you have fallen for a guy like that?" Lance asks, smiling.

"He's alright." I snap. Nobody makes fun of my Beck.

"'He's alright'? Yikes; you're in the doghouse if he hears you say that about him. Are you sure you two are together?" He asks.

"Not counting the nearly year-long break between us, we've been together for over three years; he's my boyfriend and I love him." I tell him.

"Then why'd you just say that he's 'alright', then?" Lance challenges.

"'Cause I'm pissed at him at the moment." I inform him.

"Uh huh." He says, unconvinced.

"What, you don't believe me?" I ask him, folding my arms.

"Nah. Not one bit. S'all bullshit."

"Do you or have you ever had a girlfriend then?" I ask him. He makes it sound like he knows everything about couples, so let's see if this fucker is part of a whole. And if he is, I'd love to hear how special it is and if it's perfect, which is highly doubtful.

"Kinda…" he replies, slowly, as if he were unsure of his answer. I eye him warily.

"Meaning…?" I probe.

"It's complicated…" he says.

"Dude, that's another way of saying the girl's a cunt; or she doesn't like you the way you like her; or it's something else; so which is it?" I ask him. His eyes suddenly narrow and he gives me his death glare. I'm not scared, just confused as to why he would do that.

"You know fucking nothing about me, little cretin. Stay out of it." He snarls and he marches off, bumping purposely into my shoulder as he walks past me. I look at him walk swiftly to his next class, leaving me standing here, pondering as to why he reacted like that.

The girl clearly isn't a cunt and, if she exists, she does like him the same way he likes her. His reaction suggests that something happened between him and someone he was close to.

He has walls like I do. He's antisocial and hurt because of someone. I'm simply like this because of my assfuck parents.

The only questions now are: what happened to him and can his walls be broken down?

**Chapter 2. Comment/review.**


	3. Wah Wah Wah

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS.**

**Chapter 3:**

**Wah Wah Wah**

The school day is going by at a steady pace. The incident this morning after Sikowitz was interesting and I still can't take my mind off it. What bugs me is why I even care. Lance is obnoxious and a jerk. He enjoys making fun of my relationship with Beck and we've done nothing to him. I mean I've joked with him during class, but that was it. I must've set something off deep within him to cause him to be like this towards us. There I go again! I keep going back to thinking about him and what his problem is.

A problem I just found out is that it's pretty hard to not think about the person you're thinking about when they're in the same room as you.

I'm in science class, trying to not die. Its biology and we're learning about plants. Cricket, cricket. So bland and boring. Who finds plants interesting?

Anyway, Lance has science with me and from what I can tell from where I'm sitting, he's trying very hard not to fall asleep. Our teacher, who's an environmentalist, is droning on about plant roots, how they have the DNA, blah, blah, fucking blah. After a while, she assigns us a partner project to grow and study a plant over the course of the semester. So lame. Worse, I'm partnered with Lance, which is just my fucking luck. Wah, wah, wah. Lance isn't as pleased to be partners either.

So we have to study a poinsettia, or a _Euphorbia pulcherrima_ as the packet we were given says. Whatever. The point is, is that I'm stuck with Lance doing this insipid project for five fucking months! Come on!

The teacher has us pair up with our partners. I move over to where Lance is, scowling. His neighbor moves when he sees me coming and I take his seat. Lance snickers. I glare at him.

"What?" I demand.

"Oh, nothing. I just find it funny how we keep bumping into each other today." He chortles.

"Small world, I guess." I state, shrugging. He shrugs as well.

"Or it just sucks to be you." He says.

"Oh, it sucks to be me?" I challenge him. He rolls his eyes.

"Are we going to argue about this like little children, or are we going to get this project over with?" He asks.

"Five months is a long time." I reply.

"Especially when it comes to plants." He scowls.

"Seriously." I agree.

We start to work on our project. We start by reading the packet on information about how to care for the stupid plant. It likes dark, damp places. My room comes to mind. The trick is to make sure the red leaves keep their color, because it can turn green and won't revert back. Oh, damnit, listen to me; ugh, I'm beginning to sound like the teacher.

I decide to look at Lance a little. During the improv lesson earlier in Sikowitz's class, he didn't seem too interested in the acting. He did do pretty well for his first time though, he made it to 'm' on the second pass of the alphabet.

"So, why are you here at HA?" I ask.

"Education." Lance replies without looking up from the packet.

"What do you want to be?" I pry, rolling my eyes.

"Thinking of going into acting." He replies.

"What did you audition with to get in?" I ask, curious. He looks forward, slightly startled, as if he didn't expect to be asked this question. I eye him, confused.

"Um, I acted a scene in _Hamlet_." He replies, almost unsure.

"Which scene?" I ask immediately.

"Um, the scene where Hamlet sees his father's ghost."

"That's nice. But you don't have to lie." I reply, looking down at my packet. I feel him look up at me from his packet.

"I wasn't lying." He says.

"No? Then why are you nervous about your audition?" I ask, looking up at him.

"I'm not, I just don't understand why you're interested."

"Why shouldn't I be? I wanted to know what you auditioned with to get in. I'm interested." I reply innocently.

"Hmm. How about you? Why are you here?" He asks.

"Acting. I auditioned with a scene from my favorite movie, _The Scissoring_." I reply. Jr looks at me, interested.

"_The Scissoring_ is your favorite movie? Get out! It's my favorite too." He says excitedly.

"Nice. We have quite a bit in common." I point out.

"Just because I dress in black, like _The Scissoring_, and am interested in acting doesn't mean we have anything on common." He retorts.

"Why are you like this?" I ask, annoyed.

"Why are _you_ like this?!" He parrots, more annoyed.

"I was raised in a hostile environment by people who don't give two shits about me, but love their son." I reply. "Your turn."

"No thanks." He says.

"What, are you afraid?" I challenge.

"No." He says indignantly.

"Then why don't you want to talk about it?" I ask, raising my arms and shoulders in confusion.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told you earlier, it's complicated." He replies.

"Dude, I'm a girl." I start. Her laughs a little and glances at my chest before looking back in my eyes with a goofy look on his face.

"Very astute; I'm glad you know you are one." He chuckles.

"What I was going to say is, that because I'm a girl and you're having girl problems, you can talk to me about it." I reply, trying to not laugh at how stupid his look is. He drops his look and looks away, pondering for a moment.

"Why do you want to help? You don't know me, I dint know you. Why should I open my 'heart' to you?" He asks quietly. This seems to be a sensitive subject for him.

"I'm nice like that." I reply.

"You have a very interesting way of showing your nice side, if it exists." Lance says, eyeing me.

"Oh, it exists alright, I just don't show it that often." I reply.

"Sorry, call me an imbecile, but I'm failing to see why you even care." Lance points out.

"Why shouldn't I care?" I ask. He's got a hard shell. I told him that my childhood sucked; you'd think he'd be a little more willing to open up. I guess not.

"Because you've no idea what Nikki did to me, and-"He started and covered his mouth with both hands and his eyes go wide. I look at him, shocked. He cracked! Well, a _little_, but I managed to get him to reveal something at least.

"Whose Nikki?!" I ask, desperate. He removes his hands from his face, which is pale with shock, almost as if he saw a ghost. His eyes are no longer wide, but they show a lot. They show regret and pain. So much pain.

"Nobody." He answers, not looking at me.

"You're not getting off that easily! Who is she?" I ask again. I'm just dying to know now.

At that moment, the bell rings and the classroom fills with sounds of chairs scrapping against the tile floor as students get up to leave the room. Lance starts to put his stuff away rapidly, desperate to get out.

"Seriously, who is Nikki?" I ask again.

"You're not going to find out. Stay out of it; you've no idea what you're getting into." He warns, standing up to leave. I grab all my stuff and stand up. He starts to leave the room. I put my stuff in my bag and rush after him.

"If you want me to stay out of it, give me a reason and I'll back away. Alright? Is that fair enough? You don't have to tell me who she is, just tell me why I shouldn't know and I'll be done with it." I tell him. He stops walking and his head lowers a little. He shakes his head slightly, so his ponytail whips around a little.

"It's a living nightmare and I don't want to share it. I lost so much and I don't know if I can lose more. Just…leave me be." He says, slowly. I hear a little sniffle and he rushes away. I stand there, pondering on what I heard. A living nightmare? What did he lose? Did he lose this Nikki? Did she dump him? Humiliate him? Is she dead? What could have happened with her that he says it's a living nightmare? Even I haven't experienced something like that. Then again, how do I know he's telling the truth? He could've said that shit so that I'd leave him alone. He said he wanted to be an actor. He's got to know some tricks to do that, such as expressing pain and sadness and being able to cry whenever.

All I can say for sure is that this isn't over.

**Chapter 3. Comment/review. Sorry for the wait everyone. Getting over a nasty sinusitis. But I'm doing much better, even though I haven't licked it completely yet.**


	4. Even in Death

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS. Lance's POV.**

**Chapter 4:**

**Even in Death**

_Early March of 2013, auditioning day for Lance._

I'm waiting. I'm waiting to audition to get into this school. It's supposed to be one of the best performing arts school on the West coast. I recently moved with my family to here from the Midwest. It's a little warmer here than what I'm used to. Back in South Dakota life was relatively boring and rarely anything interesting happened. You can visit Mount Rushmore only a number of times until you get bored.

All that changed when I met her. I'll never forget that day. Then again, how can I? I'm cursed with an eidetic memory.

Besides, it was an interesting day. I haven't had many of those. Afterwards, they became magical. I never thought I'd say magical again.

_Flashback to three years earlier._

I was voluntarily watching my little sister, Ashley, and her friend, Allie, while they were at the park; I only did it to get my annoying mom to shut up.

Anyway, I was watching them play under one of the trees and this girl comes over and sits down with me. I was alternating between reading a book in my Kindle to watching the girls, so I didn't really notice anyone sitting at the bench with me for a while.

"Watching the kids, huh?" The girl asked. I looked up from my Kindle to see a beautiful girl, sitting nearby.

"Yeah, my little sister and her friend. The trick is to not get too absorbed into the book." I reply, lifting my Kindle a little.

"Yeah, my little brother and his friends. Don't know how I got stuck watching the other kids." She says, shaking her head. I can't help but chuckle a little.

"I'm pretty much here so my mom would leave me alone." I reply.

"Your sister a handful?" She asks.

"Oh yeah." I reply. "She's very needy and obnoxious."

"How old is she?"

"She'll be nine in a few months. All you can hear at the house is her birthday list, which is seemingly never ending." I reply. The girl chuckles.

"My little brother is kinda annoying. He's very clingy." The girl says.

"Hmm." I reply. I look at my watch and its near time I need to take Allie home. "Well, I need to get the girls home and bribe them with ice cream." I explain, powering off my Kindle and standing up.

"Oh, that sucks. I didn't catch your name." She replies.

"Lance." I reply.

"Nikki. Nice to meet you." She introduces herself.

_End flashback._

That was the day that started my hell. I didn't see her for a while after that. But when I did, I asked her out, not knowing what was going to happen. It went downhill from there.

Now, here I am three years later, in a foreign place to escape from her. They do say letting go is the hardest part. I am not doing well.

I'm now waiting alone in this school. I need to audition to get in. I may dress and behave differently, but I'm still interested in acting. A more of a singer, though. I got that from my mom, a former opera singer. A couple of years ago, she was in a nasty accident that damaged her vocal folds. She has since recovered, but it's hard for her to sing now.

I am going to use singing in my audition. I'm warming up now, waiting to be called in. I am the only one here to audition.

As I warm up, a woman comes behind the curtains.

"We're ready for you." She says. I nod and follow her behind the curtain.

I'm in the black box theater of the school. There's a table with five occupants sitting. Three women and two men, one of whom has a coconut with a straw inserted into it. Strange.

"Alright, let's do this, shall we." The woman in the middle says. Judging from how the other people at the table looked a little intimidated and her stern look, she was the principal of the school.

"Alright, Mr..." Another lady started.

"Lance Simons, but don't call me Lancelot." I reply, putting emphasis on the end. They all exchanged looks briefly. Nikki used to call me her Lancelot a lot. Obviously, it hurts to be called that now. Especially after what happened.

"What do you have in store for us, Mr. Simons?" The woman in the middle asks.

"A song, _Even in Death_ by Evanescence." I reply. I also brought a music player for it.

"Whenever you're ready." The man with the coconut states. I big and out the player on the floor and turn the song on. I clear my throat and start to sing when the time comes.

_Give me a reason to believe that you're gone_

_I see your shadow so I know they're all wrong_

_Moonlight on the soft brown earth_

_It leads me to where you lay_

_They took you away from me but now I'm taking you home_

_I will stay forever here with you_

_My love_

_The softly spoken words you gave me_

_Even in death our love goes on_

_Some say I'm crazy for my love, Oh my love_

_But no bonds can hold me from your side, Oh my love_

_They don't know you can't leave me_

_They don't hear you singing to me_

_I will stay forever here with you_

_My love_

_The softly spoken words you gave me_

_Even in death our love goes on_

_And I can't love you, any more than I do_

_I will stay forever here with you_

_My love_

_The softly spoken words you gave me_

_Even in death our love goes on_

_And I can't love you, any more than I do_

_People die, but real love is forever._

I finish the song and turn off the player.

"Wow." The woman at the end says, impressed. "Are you a baritone?" She asks.

"I am. My mom's a former opera singer; I inherited the trait from her." I reply.

"Does she still sing?"

"No, she was in a car accident and get vocal folds were damaged; hard for her to sing now." I reply. They all look sad.

"Well, we would love to have you come here at Hollywood Arts." The woman in the middle says. The others nod in agreement. "Welcome to HA." She says and they all applaud me. I merely smirk.

About time things started looking up for me.

**Chapter 4. Comment/review. Jade's POV is back next chapter. Sorry for taking forever.**


	5. Tenacious with a Capital 'T' Part One

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS. Back to Jade.**

**Chapter 5:**

**Tenacious with a Capital 'T' Part One**

The school day has ended and I'm alone in my room at my house, pondering on what to do about Lance. I've been playing over the day's events in my mind.

In a single day, in a matter of hours, I met Lance Simons, a dude with the same personality as me and I him to reveal something about himself and this mysterious 'Nikki'. Who the hell is she? Whoever she is, she's got to be the reason for him to have this personality.

I gotta do something to make him spill his beans. Everyone has a breaking point, I just need to find his. I need time to do that, too. I need to get him alone for a while. Maybe I can go to his place, or he can come to mine so we can work on that bio project of ours. Yes, that could work.

I'm still processing what he told me earlier today. He was also upset about it, as in I think he might've cried upset. I realize this must be a sensitive subject for him, but, I gotta know! I just want to get to know him; is that so bad?

Besides, it's not every day you meet somebody with a personality like yours. He's very interesting and cute. Aw, shit. Did I just say that?

Well, the point is, is that I want to know him. And I'll do anything to do that. Not 'anything' anything, but anything.

_Tuesday morning._

I'm in Sikowitz's class waiting on Lance to show up. I'm trying hard not to watch the door as Beck would notice. I guess Lance likes to make an entrance.

To prove my point, a classroom window opens wide and Lance pokes his head inside.

"Am I late? Oh, wait, I don't care." He says as he climbs in the room, closing the window behind him.

"Why did you climb in through the window, then?" Vega asks.

"The freaking hippie kept bothering me all day yesterday about climbing in through the window." Lance answers, rolling his eyes as he sits down.

"He does that." Andre replies.

"You don't say."

Before anyone could continue, Sikowitz waltzed inside the room.

"Method acting!" He announced.

"Ahhh!" The class groaned loudly.

"Oh, come on! Don't be such sour pusses." Sikowitz answers.

"The only sour puss here is Robbie." Rex pipes up. Robbie looks at him, shocked. I roll my eyes. Here we go. I think.

"I am not!" Robbie says indignant.

"Dude, shut the fuck up." Lance grumbles. Sikowitz clears his throat.

"Moving on." He says. He assigns several of us parts to act out, and some of them are ridiculously stupid. Beck is a boy version of Cat; Robbie is a little boy whose parents have sex too much, which he overhears, so he has to keep shouting 'intercourse' in a high-pitched voice; Lance is a German psychologist who knows nothing about the field. And that's to name a few. Sikowitz has too much time on his hands.

The people who were given parts have to act out a scene as jurors during a trial, trying to come up with a verdict, a la 12 Angry Men. Talk about diversity.

During the class, a lot of stuff happened from the method acting. Cat, who played a genius mute, spoke; Lance dropped his German accent. Beck and Andre are doing the best out of the rest of them. Andre is a blind eye doctor. I know, I know, it's surreal. But he's pretty freaking hilarious. He's impersonating Ray Charles, albeit he doesn't know how to play piano.

The scene goes on for a good half of the class. The only ones left now are Beck and Andre, and they don't seem to want to stop, which is good and bad at the same time. Vega is looking a little desperate for her bf to stay in character forever. I gotta say that I'm impressed at Andre staying in character for so long, and he's a musician.

I look at Lance. He's sulking in his chair, seemingly bored with the exercise. Can't say as I blame him. I'd have thought that he'd be more interested in the acting, since he told me that it is his interest. Well, I'll pique his interest today.

The rest of class involved the method acting, until Andre broke character. As the bell rang, Sikowitz gave us our homework assignment.

I look at Lance, as he stands up and moves towards the main classroom door.

"Hey, Lance." I speak up. He turns around and upon seeing me, he groans loudly.

"What do you want now?" He asks, annoyed.

"We need to work on our project for Bio. We can do it at my place." I reply, ignoring his tone. He ponders for a moment.

"Fine; I'll meet you in the parking lot after school." He replies and departs before I can acknowledge him. I sigh. He's pretty stubborn. Good thing I'm pretty tenacious myself.

Beck walks up to me.

"Why do you even bother? He doesn't seem to want to be friends with you." He points out. I look at him.

"What gave you that idea?" I ask.

"Jade, it's no secret to anyone that you want to get to know Lance more. I think he even knows it." He replies, lightly chuckling.

"Then why hasn't he said anything?" I ask.

"He doesn't have to say anything; he can embarrass you in front of others if he wants to." Beck explains. I scoff and leave the room, with him beside me.

"Embarrass me?" I chortle. "He's nobody. Everybody knows me. I can destroy him if I wanted to." I say.

"But you don't. You want to know him because you have a hard-on for him." Beck snaps. I look at him, mildly surprised. He like, never loses his temper, nor does he ever snap like that.

"What's up with you?" I ask, still a little taken aback by his snapping.

"What's up with me is that my girlfriend cars more about done guy she just let than her own boyfriend." Beck replies and he storms off, leaving me to think on his words.

_After school._

I haven't seen nor heard from Beck since this morning after Sikowitz's class. He is clearly avoiding me. Whatever. I don't let it worry me one bit; he's a big boy, with a kind of a big head that needs deflating. Not everybody sees or knows about this, but it's true. It's not that it's bad, it's just annoying. Beck kinda has a big ego as well. It's just from his years of being on a relationship with me. Even despite the near year we were split up.

Anyways, I am walking to the student parking lot to meet up with Lance. My plan is to work with Lance on our stupid Bio project and then drop the bomb on him. By bomb, I mean I'm gonna get him to tell me about Nikki. If I have to, I'll tell him how I came to be who am I and maybe, it'll show him that he can tell me about him and Nikki. He's gotta crack, he's just gotta.

**Chapter 5. Comment/review. So, so, soooo sorry for taking so long. I'm just about done with the second half.**


	6. Tenacious with a Capital 'T' Part Two

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN VICTORiOUS.**

**Chapter 6:**

**Tenacious with a Capital 'T' Part Two**

I walk outside and into the student parking lot.

"Over here." I hear on my left. I turn and see Lance walking towards me, car keys in hand.

"Where's your car?" I ask.

"It's a grey Charger." He replies, simply. Not many students have Chargers, so it shouldn't be hard to figure his out.

"Well, I'm right there. The old red Honda." I say, pointing to my beat to shit Honda Civic.

"Alright. I'll just follow you them?" He asks, walking into the parking lot.

"Yeah, that's fine. Just pull up beside me." I answer, walking to my car as he goes a couple of rows over to his out of sight Charger. I unlock my car door using the keys as the car doesn't have the electronic locks.

I get in my car she turn over the engine. I sit in the parking space, waiting for him to write in his car. I look in the rearview mirror and I see a black Charger drive behind me and I see Lance in the driver seat. He pulls his car back so that I can pull out of my space. I drive to the exit and he follows.

The drive to my house is uneventful. He follows me pretty easily and we don't get separated by red lights.

We pull up to my house. I go into the garage and he parks next to the sidewalk in front of the house.

"You live pretty close to me." He says when he gets out of the car and grabs his bag from his trunk.

"Where do you live?" I ask.

"Hollywood Hills." He answers, walking up the driveway. That causes my blood to begin to boil slightly. Vega and Andre may finally be fucking each other, but I don't like the fact that Lance lives in the same area as she does.

"Oh." I say, sounding slightly angry.

"What's wrong with where I live?" He asks, slightly angry himself.

"Nothing. Just come in." I say, as I lead him inside my house through my garage door.

"Uh huh. You have something to say about where I live, then say it; I won't take offense." He demands as I lead him through the house to the kitchen.

"Vega lives there." I say.

"What's wrong with Vega?" He asks. I turn to give him a 'what do you think' look. "Besides the obvious." He adds.

"Just _the_ obvious. She thinks she's so goddamn perfect, it pisses me off." I say, putting my bag on the kitchen table and I go to get us some drinks.

"Yeah, she's got it easy, unlike you and me." Lance says, sitting down at the table. I turn to look at him.

"Who said I got it hard here?" I ask, pouring soda in glasses for us.

"You told me that your parents don't really give a shit about you." He answers. Hmm, he remembered. Possibly out of sympathy?

"Hmm. And what about you? What is it that it's hard on you?" I ask.

"Mostly my family. My mom is kinda demanding and my sister is an annoying little shit." He says. I hand him his soda and he takes a sip.

"What about your dad?" I ask.

"Dead. He was KIA in Iraq." He replies.

"Sorry. That must've been hard." I state. If I'm sympathetic, he'll think that I'll understand and want to tell me about Nikki.

"It was brutal on mom. My sister was too young to remember."

"How about you? It must've been hard." I say, feeling kinda bad for him.

"It was and I had to step up to the plate to be 'man of the house' and take care of them, as they were incapable of doing so." Lance explains.

"That had to be the hardest time if your life. You had it pretty bad, I bet." I state.

"I did; I was too concerned with taking care of them. I had to make sure mom went to work; opera singers don't really make much, but she was in an accident before dad got sent over to Iraq and she can't sing anymore without damaging her vocal folds; so she has to work. I had to practically raise my sister, since mom was too depressed. I wasn't paying attention to myself and I almost had to repeat a school year." He explains. I can see this is a delicate subject for him. I wonder if I should bother asking him about Nikki. We'll see how this plays out.

We start to work on doing research into the poinsettia itself and its history. While doing this, we try not to die of boredom. The only interesting thing I find out if that it was used by the Aztecs as a fever reducer in a red dye. I might need that. Wait, I have a headache, not a fever. Shit. Why we need to do this for a semester is beyond me.

Lance pulls out his phone and headphones and turned on some music. . I glance at his screen and see he is listening to Even in Death by Evanescence.

"That's a good song." I comment, going back to my work.

"My favorite." He replies almost nonchalant. I look at him for a split send, almost confused by his seeming indifference. I just fine to the conclusion that he's too involved in the work and just ignore it.

A half hour later, he's still listening to the same song. I can't help but wonder, why that song? Why not another song on loop? There's got to be a reason. It's a good song, but after a while, it must get old.

"Why are you still listening to that song?" I ask.

"I told you, it's my favorite." He answers, not looking up.

"Yeah, but doesn't it get annoying after a while?" I ask, raising my hands a little.

"No, sir." He says.

"Why that song, then? Isn't there another Evanescence song you have that you like equally?" He finally looks up at me.

"Why does this bother you so much? I mean, what do you care?" He asks.

"I'm just curious as to why you like that one particular song so much. I don't see any harm in that."

"No, but I do see the harm in why you're so curious about me." Lance retorts.

"I've never met anybody like me, like you, before. I want to know what has caused you to be in such pain." I reply, practically spilling my heart into my answer. He sits there for a while, pondering.

"Why?" He simply asks. I swallow hard. I don't want to say this.

"Because I think I'm in love with you." I reply, painfully. And it hurts. I've never really felt this feeling before. I mean, I love Beck, but I'm not in love with him, if you get the gist of what I'm saying.

"What?" He says softly, turning off his music.

"I know. I don't understand it either." I say, truthfully. It's all new to me. He has this unsure look on his face. I think he's trying to think of what to say.

"I don't even know what to say." He replies, his voice still soft.

"I'm at a loss of words myself." I answer. "So, don't feel bad."

"I don't feel bad, I feel like shit. I don't even-" he starts.

"You can tell me." I say in a reassuring tone.

"I haven't felt this way in a long time." He says.

"So, you feel the same way about me." I reply. I'm not asking, I'm telling.

"I, uh, I, uh, I gotta go." He says, starting to grab his stuff.

"Where are you going?" I ask as be stands up, ready to leave.

"I just gotta go."

"Like hell you are." I say, standing up. He leaves the kitchen making a beeline to the front door. I catch up and get in front of him, blocking him. "You can't just leave after something like this has happened."

"Watch me." He says, almost threatening. Almost.

"You're gonna stay here and tell me what is going on. You said that you've haven't felt this way in a long time, so clearly, you feel something for me. Deny it all you want, but I think you are actually in love with me. Why? I don't know, but I want, no, I need to know. I need to know who you are." I say. He stands there, but does nothing. He looks down for a second then looks back up at me.

"What do you want to know?" He asks, pain evident in his voice.

"Everything."

**Chapter 6. Comment/review. Its official, I'm going to publish a Love Darkness spin-off with Riley and Andre in it. It'll be a mini-series, so they won't be very long. Not sure when I'll publish the first story, but I have completed the prologue.**


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